Mia Litzenberg is like many kids her age — she loves animals, especially cats, and she wants to grow up to be a writer in the fantasy genre.

The 11-year-old fifth-grader loves her advanced math class and enjoys playing on her traveling soccer team, Michigan Alliance. She plays the piano and enjoys singing.

Yet, Mia is atypical, too.

In the last year, Mia has twice been hospitalized for severe eczema, a skin condition that affects more than 30 million Americans. It sometimes has made her feel self-conscious and unsure.

"People ask me what was wrong with me (and) if I had sunburn or poison ivy," she said. "I understand people are curious and they aren't trying to be mean."

The treatments and hospitalizations caused Mia to close herself off socially and emotionally, her mother, Lisa Yee-Litzenberg, said.

Then she was introduced to Meredith Schlabig, the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital's music fellow. Schlabig entered Mia's hospital room with a guitar and keyboard, and the two formed a friendship through a shared love of music.

On Wednesday, Mia will giveback to the music program by performing "Brave" by Sara Bareilles at the hospital's Micah Smiles Benefit Concert at The Ark at 316 S. Main St. in Ann Arbor. All proceeds will go to the hospital's music-therapy program. Also performing is Acoustic Eidolon.

Doors open at 7 p.m. with the show beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available for $100 and $20, and can be purchased online through The Ark at www.theark.org/shows-events/2015/apr/01/micah-smiles-benefit-concert-cs-mott-childrens-hospital.

The Micah Smiles Fund was named in honor of Micah Canvasser, whose parents established the fund to help expand the hospital's music-therapy program, which they used when their twin sons were born three months prematurely. Micah's twin went home after three months, but Micah was hospitalized for 10 months before his death.

For the Litzenberg family, the music program provided smiles for Mia.

Mia was diagnosed a couple of years ago after her mother noticed a change in her daughter.

"It came on suddenly. She started eating a ton of oranges, which she'd never done before, and suddenly she got a severe case where it broke out all over her skin," Yee-Litzenberg said. "She was miserable, and we were unable to do anything for her."

There is no cure for eczema, but it is manageable, according to the National Eczema Association, which defines eczema has an itchy, red rash that can appear all over the body. The rash differs from person to person and it may affect different parts of one's body.

Yee-Litzenberg said Mia's eczema affects 90 percent of her body and her skin itches so badly that the girl would "scratch herself bloody." She said there were activities that Mia would not participate in, such as watching an air show because "her neck kept cracking" as she looked up at the sky.

"I would, literally, look like a snowstorm because it's so flaky," Mia explained. "It's dry and cracks and it stings. Sometimes it burns red and feels hot. ... It's aggravating because there are so many reasons why it could act up, and medicines don't always help."

Mia and her family have learned that her diet plays a part in her eczema outbreaks. As a result, Yee-Litzenberg said, she has "had to change (Mia's) entire diet." Physical exertion and some activities, like swimming in a pool treated with chlorine, also are factors.

"I would really like to do swimming and run, but sweat makes it itch even more," Mia said. "I have to take showers, and I take bleach baths or Epsom salt to moisturize.

It is difficult for Mia sometimes, but she chooses not to let her situation hold her back.

She plays midfield, defense and outside wing on the Michigan Alliance soccer team and she loves animals. She has three cats, two rabbits and a mouse, and she only recently learned that she is allergic to cats.

Mia is looking forward to her 12th birthday in November, and she may forgo presents in favor of asking the invitees to make a donation to the Mott music program. Last year, she raised $300 at her birthday party for the program.

"They are really nice people who are very caring and understanding, and they're trying to make people happy through music," Mia said.

■ On Wednesday, Mia Litzenberg will give back to the C.S. Mott Children's Hospital's music program by performing "Brave" by Sara Bareilles at the hospital's Micah Smiles Benefit Concert held 7 p.m. at The Ark at 316 S. Main St. in Ann Arbor.

■ All proceeds will go to the hospital's musi- therapy program. Also performing is Acoustic Eidolon.

■ Doors open 7 p.m. with the show beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available for $100 and $20, and can be purchased online through The Ark at www.theark.org/shows-events/2015/apr/01/micah-smiles-benefit-concert-cs-mott-childrens-hospital.

■ You can donate to Micah Smiles Fund by visiting http://givetomott.org/ways-to-give/current-fundraising-initiatives/micah-smiles.

■ You can learn more about Mott's music therapy program by visiting http://www.mottchildren.org/mott-support-services/cfl-music-therapy.